Spreadsheet programs are a useful tool in performing computational tasks such as keeping household budgets, work schedules, tracking bank accounts, maintaining inventories, and so on. As the use of personal computers within the home and business environments becomes more common, so too does the use of the spreadsheet program. The versatility of spreadsheet applications and the ease with which they are adapted to various tasks has resulted in their widespread use. With ongoing advances in the speed and capabilities of personal computers, enhanced features have been developed for spreadsheet programs.
In a typical spreadsheet program, the spreadsheet comprises multiple cells containing numbers, text, or formulae. Users require the capability to edit the data in the various cells of the spreadsheet in order to update the spreadsheet as necessary. Further, the editing model must be kept separate from the model used to select cells for formatting, copying, or movement purposes, so as to minimize errors and unwanted results stemming from an overlap between the two models of cell operation.
Editing the contents of a cell has traditionally been performed by selecting a specific cell, then entering an edit mode through one of various provided means. In general, a user enters edit mode through the use of a formula bar, keys on a keyboard, or a double-click from a mouse. Double-clicking a cell in order to edit the cell's contents is rarely discovered by novice users. Indeed, even many seasoned spreadsheet users are unaware that a double-click will allow the editing of a cell's contents, and instead rely solely of the use of the formula bar. Unfortunately, the implementation of a formula bar in a spreadsheet program is not always efficient or possible. Further, many novice users are unaware that the contents of a cell may be edited selectively, rather than being completely replaced, because the previous methods are unintuitive for the first-time user. Because novice users are often unaware of any way to edit the contents of a cell, they often end up retyping everything in order to change a single letter. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method to edit the contents of a cell that is both intuitive and simple to use, and is obvious to a novice user.
The increased speed and capability of computers has led to an increased reliance on them in a business setting. Information that was once routinely transmitted by courier, mail, or telephone now is quickly accessed through the use of the personal computer, minimizing delivery times and costs. Traditionally, remotely accessed spreadsheets were emailed from one user to another, transferred on disk, copied via file transfer protocol (FTP), or even viewed across the World Wide Web by means of a Web browser. However, each of these options has inherent drawbacks. Email or FTP only gives the user a copy of the document, then forcing him to launch a spreadsheet-editing program. Further, many users lack any type of FTP program or knowledge about how to employ one. Web browsing typically does not allow a user to alter a spreadsheet, only to view its contents. Thus, there is a need to provide a method to access and edit a spreadsheet remotely located from a user that is simple and intuitive, and does not require launching multiple programs.